Well, we are back into the swing of things here at school. Each day we move further away from free time, pool days, and summer tans; to staying up late, hitting the books, sitting for hours, and stressing about tests. It has been rather surprising how quickly it's come and how quickly this year is going. We are already halfway through midterms and two months away from finals. Due to increased caffeine consumption and a lack of sleep, I've been in a vet school daze. My experience this weekend helped shake me from my stupor and remind me why I chose this struggle - why I wanted to be in veterinary medicine. All of my prior veterinary work experience has been in small animal medicine. I love small animal practice, but I knew when I got into veterinary school that I wanted to acquire experience in large and food animal medicine. So this year I am signed up for Bovine Practitioners club (BP). BP holds palpation exams once a month, and I was excited ... (Read More)

When I was a first year veterinary student, only two short years ago, I remember being so intimidated by the large and small animal teaching hospitals. I would occasionally have a class lab there, or I would take my own pets in to see the vet, and every time, I felt like there was no way I would ever know my way around or feel like I belonged. All of the fourth year students would be busily working on things related to their cases, and it felt like there were always a hundred things going on at once. Fast forward two years, and now, as a third year student, I actually get to shadow fourth years on their clinical rotations! Now that I've had most of my basic courses during my first two years of veterinary school, my fellow third year students and I are assigned to various clinic services throughout the year. Every Wednesday while you are on your clinic rotations, you spend the whole day just getting immersed in what goes on in the teaching hospi... (Read More)

Howdy everyone!  I am finally back.  This is my first blog following our summer away, and my first blog since returning from my MBA program.  For those of you new to the blog, I took a year off between my second and third years of veterinary school to earn my MBA.  We have a fantastic arrangement between the vet school and business school that allows students to graduate in five years with their DVM and MBA degrees.  If you would like to learn more, see some of my older blog posts, but for today I want to focus on all the cool new areas I found veterinary medicine this summer. So … I tried to do too much this summer.  I know, surprising.  I have never been known to bite off more than I can chew (please note the sarcasm in this statement).  Over the course of the summer, I was finishing up my MBA performing a consulting project in conjunction with the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospitals, I ... (Read More)

I'm sure we all remember when we opened our acceptance letter to veterinary school. I admit, I screamed. Our hard work had finally paid off! All the sweat, blood, and tears that went into filling out applications, taking the GRE, and slaving over books had been worth it. For many of us this was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. I talked to the teacher who screened me for kindergarten about hippopotamuses, and told my second grade teacher that if I could have more of anything, I would pick cats. Acceptance to vet school meant I got to work with animals every day for the rest of my life! What many of us didn't realize, however, is that veterinary school is the beginning of a journey, not an end. I see the first years in the fishbowl every day waiting for anatomy and remember how much of a shock that class was for me. I became discouraged really fast when I realized I had to learn every little bump on every little dog bone when the only thing I ... (Read More)

This August, Dean Eleanor Green provided funds to allow two veterinary students and one staff member to attend the Lesbian and Gay Veterinary Medical Association (LGVMA) Annual Meeting at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Convention in San Diego.  As president of my school's chapter of the LGVMA, I was lucky enough to be one of those students, joined by Elise Jemmott, secretary of our chapter, and John Scroggs, Chief of Staff of the vet school, advisor to our chapter and a new board member of the LGVMA. After settling into our hotel rooms, we headed to our first event, the LGVMA Annual Meeting.   Here we not only covered the usual business of budgets and board members, but we also discussed current LGBT issues in our profession, new ideas to get members more involved and how to keep a group like this connected.  Dean Green, John, Elise and I all helped to describe to the veterinarians, students and technicia... (Read More)

This semester is flying by!  We are already into our sixth week of the Fall semester (more than a quarter of the way through)!  Looking back, first year passed by pretty quickly, although at the time, it definitely didn't feel like it.  I still remember the first day of orientation: the nervousness, the excitement, and catching the "I'm-just-a-first-year-I-don't-know-what's-going-on" syndrome.  Luckily, when I arrived at the school, I found a fellow lost soul in the parking lot, who ended up becoming one of my closest friends. The first year of veterinary school was a big adjustment period for me.  It was my first time away from home, my first time living on my own, and, of course, the start of some of the most stressful yet rewarding years of my life.  Thankfully, I had an amazing vet school family that helped me through it all (shoutout to the Class of 2015: y'all are awesome!).  With that being said, the t... (Read More)

Howdy everyone!  I hope that the new school year has been stimulating thus far.  I know there are many changes happening this year, not just in our lives as growing students but in the university as a whole.  We made our debut in the SEC with an impressively fought first game, and a win this past weekend against SMU.  The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences has been working really hard to make this year a good one for us students, and I must say that this semester has been astounding thus far.  This past weekend, I participated in the college of veterinary medicine Texas A&M Aggie Leadership Event.  This event was put on by our administration, with the help of Dr. Rick Debowes from WSU, and it was an opportunity for students and faculty alike to grow in leadership and teamwork.  The weekend consisted of many interesting and stimulating talks from Dr. Debowes and many group ... (Read More)

This summer flew by!  After a brief bit of down time following final exams, I packed up a suitcase with 10 weeks worth of supplies and boarded a plane to Ithaca, New York to participate in Cornell University's Leadership Program for Veterinary Students.  Typically veterinary students spend their two free summers working in clinics both to gain practical experience and to remind ourselves of why we spend almost every waking moment pursuing medical knowledge during the fall and spring semesters.  However, after participating in Texas A&M's own Summer Research Program last summer, I knew I wanted to pursue another more untraditional summer experience.  This thought led me to Cornell's program which combines a research experience with an additional focus on the development of leadership skills. As a self professed nerd, I really enjoyed diving into a new lab and learning about a previously unfamiliar topic.  I was assi... (Read More)

Well, we are now into the 3rd week of the semester, and for me it seems like the semester is already going by really fast. As I was planning out my week last night, I realized that my first round of exams is coming up next week. For those of you that are freshmen, I know how overwhelming the first round of exams may be for you. But don't fret! There are many programs around campus to help you figure out the best way for you to study. Supplemental instruction (SI) is one of the best ways to get help. Most freshman level classes have an SI leader that sits in on your class and takes notes. Then, the SI leader holds SI sessions three times a week to help you with what was taught in class that week. Supplemental instruction is free and a great way to get help and form study groups! You can also get help from the counseling center. Surprisingly, there are counselors on campus that specialize in giving you academic help. I actually spent most of my f... (Read More)

I had the privilege this summer of traveling to many Fish Camp and T-Camp sessions to talk about the importance of involvement. Here at Texas A&M University you have many opportunities to get involved. You can participate in student organizations, Aggie traditions, community service, or even student employment. Your college career is defined by your experiences, connections, and personal growth - getting involved can help you make the most of this time. Having high impact experiences make your time spent in college unique. Dive into those opportunities outside of class - you never know what you might learn or be able to do. Making connections with peers, professors, and other professionals can help you to accomplish your goals of grad school or a great job after college. The Aggie Network is a huge group of people who want to help you succeed, so take advantage of it! I have personally developed through my involvement with Parents' Weekend,... (Read More)